This invention relates to a method of assembling a belt drive of a record player. In a belt driven record player, drive of a turntable is achieved from an electric motor by way of an endless resilient belt which may comprise a rubber band, and which passes around a spindle of the motor which projects from a deck plate of the record player and around a drum which is provided on the underside of the turntable.
There is a problem with assembling the belt drive when locating the turntable on a mounting post on the deck plate and engaging the belt around the motor spindle of the deck plate and around the drum of the turntable. This problem occurs in initial assembling and when replacing the turntable after it has been removed for a maintenance or a repair operation of the record player.
The problem arises because it is not possible with known designs of record player to gain access to said spindle and drum from below the turntable and the operation of assembling the belt drive from above is obstructed by the turntable.
To overcome this problem, it is known to provide a turntable with an aperture in such a position that a person assembling the belt drive can insert his fingers into a space below the turntable to manipulate the belt which is engaged around the drum, into position over the spindle, having presented the turntable to its mounting post on the deck plate.
In order to preserve the balance of the turntable, it is necessary to provide a further similar aperture in the turntable at a diametrically opposed position.
To cover these apertures in the turntable to prevent dust from entering the record player mechanism and for aesthetic purposes, it is necessary to provide a turntable mat in order to conceal the apertures, which mat can readily be removed when it is desired to gain access to the apertures for belt drive assembly. Provision of such a mat increases the costs of the record player and the known method of assembling necessitates unwarranted steps in production, namely making the apertures in the turntable, balancing the turntable, and placing the mat on the turntable. In known record players the assembly operation is awkward and time consuming and can prove a very difficult operation for a user of the record player who wishes to remove and replace a turntable and has had no previous experience of this operation.
A record player having a belt drive in which an endless resilient belt passes around a motor driving spindle which extends from a deck plate and around a drum provided on the underside of a turntable, the turntable being mounted for rotation on a mounting means provided on the deck plate, is hereinafter referred to as a record player of the type specified. Also, where the expressions "upper" and "lower", "vertical" and "horizontal" are used herein, these are to be taken as referring to the record player occupying its normal operative position in which the deck plate and turntable are in substantially horizontal planes.
The object of the invention is to provide an improved method of assembling a belt drive in a record player of the type specified so as to eliminate the problem in assembly hereinbefore referred to.